Measurement and modeling of radical polymerization kinetics for

Séminaires & Conférences Chimie École Doctorale 459
Vendredi 15 Novembre 2013, 14h
ENSCM, salle de conférences Recherche (Bâtiment Max Mousseron, 4e étage)
8 rue de l'École Normale, 34000 Montpellier
Measurement and modeling
of radical polymerization kinetics
for product and process development
Professor Robin HUTCHINSON
Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Demands on polymeric material manufacturers are constantly evolving, driven by
the need to increase production rates and produce new materials with existing
facilities, and the desire to modify or replace existing processes with more costeffective and environmentally-friendly versions. Our research develops the
understanding and methodology required to help achieve these goals, using a variety
of experimental and simulation tools. Pulsed-laser experimental techniques have
greatly improved estimates of key propagation and termination radical polymerization
rate coefficients. These advances create an opportunity to develop more reliable
kinetic models, and are leading to an improved understanding of secondary reactions
(depropagation; back-biting, branching, and scission ; penultimate propagation kinetics
in copolymerization) and the influence of solvent choice on reaction rate and polymer
structure. Examples are taken from ongoing projects studying the polymerization of
water soluble monomers (e.g. acrylic acid/acrylamide copolymers), the production of
solvent-borne acrylics for automotive coatings under higher-temperature conditions,
and the development of continuous reactor systems for copper-catalyzed controlled
radical polymerization.